Wrestling the Dragon: In Search of the Tibetan Lama Who Defied China by G Naher & Gaby Naher

Author:G Naher & Gaby Naher
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Religion, Buddhism, Essays & Travelogues, Travel, General
ISBN: 9781446408780
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 2011-01-25T01:43:03+00:00

LINEAGE: THE TENTH KARMAPA

Chöying Dorje (1604–1674), the Xth Karmapa, is rumoured to have taken seven steps towards the north, south, east and west at birth. Enthroned at the age of eight, Chöying Dorje was already an accomplished debater of philosophy, and an artist and poet. He was graced with one of the typical Karmapa traits of foresight.

While studying at Tsurphu Monastery, the King of Tsang, in central Tibet, became the Karmapa’s patron. The king’s son became embroiled in a dispute with two of the large Gelug monasteries near Lhasa, and the Gelugs called upon the assistance of the Mongol chiefs, seeking to suppress the other schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In anticipation of having to flee central Tibet, the Karmapa gave away many of his possessions and his money to the poor, and appointed a regent. When Gushri Khan’s Mongol armies attacked the Karmapa’s own camp, Chöying Dorje remained fearless and appeared alternately to the soldiers in his own form and in the forms of an eagle and a deer. Ultimately, he fled, leaving his followers – or so it is said – with an image of him flying through space holding the hand of his chief attendant.

Chöying Dorje fled to Bhutan, where he lived in the wilderness for some three years. He subsequently travelled on to northern Yunnan, near Kham’s border with southwest China, where the inhabitants welcomed him warmly. The local king developed a plan to drive the Mongols from Tibet and establish the Karmapa as head of state. The Karmapa, however, dissuaded him, arguing that waging war was against the Buddha’s teaching. Chöying Dorje lived in Yunnan for thirty years, but often travelled into Tibet disguised as a beggar to find the Kagyu lineage incarnations who had been born there.

Chöying Dorje was finally able to return to Tibet as the Karmapa because the political climate had changed considerably. The Vth Dalai Lama had become both the spiritual and temporal leader, as would each of his subsequent reincarnations right up until that of the present, the XIVth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. The Karmapa bestowed teachings on the Dalai Lama, who subsequently proclaimed that Tsurphu Monastery should be protected from political disturbance.

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